


Project Woedica

by Barbedbeat



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: Alternate Universe, Cyberpunk
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-15
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-03-31 14:56:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,478
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13977492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barbedbeat/pseuds/Barbedbeat
Summary: You know the Pillars of Eternity cyberpunk AU you never knew you wanted?Here it is!





	Project Woedica

I couldn't sleep a wink today.  
But it’s not my fault. They were screaming loud, too loud to.  
And there, behind the dark shroud of my closed eyelids, I could see them.  
Writhing in agony, bloodied hands rattling the encrusted walls of the vats, their suffering encased in flashes of surgical neon.  
They looped incessantly behind my eyes, fragments of a lost past, oozing like poison from the forgotten depths of my brain.  
No matter how hard I try, I cannot recognize them, nor locate them in space or time.  
But every night they come back to claw at my brain with a swarm of unwanted questions.  
And if they don’t stop soon, they say I’ll end up just like old Maerwald.  
The third gulp of whiskey rolls down my throat and hits my stomach, mingling with the searing bites of anxiety as his words ring in my memory’s ears.  
“Memories. Terrible, terrible memories. They… they killed peace. They killed sleep”, he’d said, raising his trembling fingers to touch the net of scars etched on his scalp, “Erase them, I asked. Erase them, I begged. Too much too bear, too much...” He suddenly jumped on his feet, fists clenched, face warped with fury. “FOOL!”, he screamed. And just like that, he collapsed on the floor, thrashing around in the throes of a seizure.  
After the convulsion stopped, he spoke again. “Find the Ark. There, where the first fires burnt. Find... the Ark.”  
The crack of Edér’s rifle ended his suffering in heartbeat, leaving us free to plug into Caed Nua’s mainframe.

“Arkannon Industries’ birthplace, commonly referred to as ‘The Ark’ by the local populace”, Kana read out, eyes following the invisible strings of text projected onto his retinas by his plugged-in deck, “is a now-abandoned underground facility located in the Defiance Bay neighbourhood of First Fires...”  
“...and also where the answers to we're so desperately looking for seem to lie”, Aloth concluded, throwing his leather jacket over his shoulders, a menthol cigarette burning between his lips. “Let's get a move on, shall we?”

We barged into Defiance Bay eight hours later, mingling into the herd of empty-eyed kith and police automats roaming the metropolis’ phosphorescent streets.  
Edér led the way, towing us along the burrowing maze of U-Bahn tunnels and up to Brackenbury district’s ragged surface.  
“Welcome to our temporary headquarters, folks.”, he said, cocking his head towards what looked like a decrepit apartment block. Its sign fizzed softly in the drizzle, spelling CharreD BarreL in glowing purple letters.  
“Automated motel”, he continued, wedging his credstick in the usb port next to the entrance, Cheap and discreet. Cozyness mightn’t be its best feature, but it ain’t like we care, right?.”  
The gate swung open and we stepped into the hallway. “Welcome, Travelers”, the Holo-concierge chimed, greeting us with its metallic lilt. “Good evening my lady,” Edér said, fiddling with the reservation pad that had lit up on the counter. “Confirm stay for...SEVEN nights. Select… optional amenities. Confirm selection. THIRTY-FOUR credits will be withdrawn from your CredStick, Y/N.”  
A moment of silence fell as the robot processed all the necessary info.  
It then spewed out a worn out keycard, accompanying the gesture with a satisfied jingle.  
“Your room will be... number... FOUR-O-TWO. Enjoy your stay!”  
We crashed into our room- little more than four moldy walls and couple of double bunk beds- until the clock struck 3 am. We then gathered the few essentials we’d need for a recognition stroll around the burnt remains of the Ark and fucked the hell out of there.

 

“Bad news, folks: we’re shit out of luck.” Edér said, camo dispelling, as he slid back in the bushy clearing where we’d been waiting for him. “Place’s about as empty as a pill club on a Folksdag night.”  
We should have known. There’s no such thing as a milk run, especially not if you’re planning to scavenge the former headquarters of the world’s leading NeuroMods megacorp.  
“What d’ye mean?” Aloth asked, suddenly on high alert.  
“It means Kana got fake intel”, the old merc continued as his dataeye uploaded a folder of stills through our commlinks and onto our PDAs, “The ruins are guarded. Private security. Could spot at least 7 armed soldiers patrolling the perimeter. Also, cameras. There’s two hangin’ above the main entrance and one chillin’ right there in the back.”  
“Leaden Key Security?” I mutter, zooming on the arm patch of a yawning soldier’s uniform, “What kind of company is that?”  
Edér shrugs. “Ne’er heard of it.”  
“My best bet,” Kana started, tapping a sausage-sized finger on the screen of his device, “is that we’re dealing with some kind of corporate police. Not unlikely, since it’s Arkannon’s turf they’re standing onto.”  
“True, but what could he possibly be storing in that scorched wreck that could justify… this?”  
I feel the corner of my mouth twitch into a smirk.  
“Only one way to find out.”

 

And here we are, growing old in our CDBL suite, impatiently waiting to go out again-- with a semblance of organization this time.  
I place an adrenal-stim paper to melt under my tongue and listen to Kana chumming it out with one of his contacts on the Adra SubNet, some digismuggler from southern Vailia.  
Dude somehow managed to score us four fake Ark Industries ID tags. They cost me twelve wages worth of creds, but it’s not like we have any other option.  
Edér’s perched on the bed above mine, humming an old song while running a calibration test on his left cyberarm. The smoke of his Rauataian cigar has climbed its way up to the ceiling, where it mingles with that of Aloth’s nervous cigs. Elf’s been on edge since our little scouting mission three days ago. Barely eats anything at all. He just keeps smoking, and he spent the whole afternoon talking to himself. Cannot really blame him: when I was his age I used to shit my pants before a run as well.  
And still, there’s something in his demeanor that puzzles me. Guy’s a real tough nut to crack.  
I just hope he won’t pull any stupid stunt while on the run. Maybe I should slip him a chill pill.  
“Hey son” I start. “You ok? Need something for the nerves?”  
He shakes his head and proceeds to light up another smoke, staring at a spot between his feet.  
Oh well. Hope he knows what he’s doing.  
I close my eyes for a sec and feel the tart taste of chemicals hit the roof of my mouth. The stim has kicked in.  
When I open my eyelids, tiredness is gone and the world has come into a sharp focus. I raise my PDA in front of my nose and look at the time. It’s 8:46 pm.  
“Alright, ladies”, I start, clapping my hands to draw the squad’s’ attention, “Dark is approaching fast, and we’re moving out in 14’. Enough shittin’ around, let’s get a move and have a little recap.” I wait till everyone’s good and focused before continuing. “Plan’s simple. Kana will pose as Doctor Rua, a Neuro Technician from Rauatai. Edér and Aloth will be his bodyguards, while I…” I stop to point at the jailbroken neuromodule that protrudes from my left temple, “...will act as his mnemonic courier.” “We’re there to deposit some sensitive intel in the structure’s main terminal. It’s a top-secret op, hence the security and unusual business hour. They start asking questions, we bluff our way out. Whatever happens, keep it cool. Act profession-- you have a problem, elf?“  
Aloth shifts his weight on his feet, tension radiating from him like gamma rays from a faulty microwave. I clearly heard him scoff not longer than a second ago, but he now seems to be disowning the fact. “No, Boss. It’s just...” His faces twitches for an instant,“I have a bad feeling about this, is all.”  
“Then take that feeling and shove it up your ass. We need to keep our mind on the matter at hand, and keep it good and clear. If we do, it’s an easy in, easy out kind of sit. If we don’t...” I look at him straight in the eye and place a finger-gun under his chin. “Boom.”  
“She tells the truth, kiddo.” Edér slides an arm around my shoulders and waves his cigar under Aloth’s nose in admonition. “No matter how bad things might be gettin’, if you keep your head attached to your neck, chances are you crawl out of them with your skin still on yer bones. If you start freakin’ out, however...”, he sucks air between his teeth, eyebrows drew back in emphasis, “... not so much.”  
The wiz stands in silence, a droplet of sweat running down his nose. When he speaks, his voice is calm. “Understood. Thank you.”  
“Good,” I conclude, clapping my hands once more, “now let’s move our ass and get shit done.”

 

The folk guard that examines our IDs seems to be a couple months short on sleep. He scans our tags one by one with his work PDA, stupidly blinking at the all-clear light as if it were a blinding green sun.  
“Hm”, he drawls, a yawn stretching the hinges of his jaw, “So, uh, Doctor Rua. Hope you’ll forgive my curiosity, but we had our monthly update carried out just last week. Could you tell me what.. What it is exactly that you’ve been sent here to do? It’s just a formality, really: I just need something to write in the logbook before I wrap my shift up, you see.”  
Kana’s polite chuckle booms in my chest, his vocal enhancer infusing his tone with confident authority. “But of course, Commander! Now: due to the highly sensitive nature of my mission, I won’t be able to go into much detail I’m afraid, but… you see...” He raises two fingers to straighten the fake spectacles that pinch his nose bridge, “As early as three days ago, one of our leading teams made a sensational discovery. Long story short, we found out that the cortical level of awareness in conscious patients leads to a dramatic- and I cannot stress it enough: *dramatic* increase of the sub-adjacent neural spleen, which allowed us to develop a new prototype of passive NeuroMod...” The Aumaua stops, making a show of catching his breath. When he resumes, a big, toothy smile has appeared on his face. “And I have been sent out of Rauatai specifically so I could upload the new schematics and compare them with a previous model of ours, the-ah- Wiggytron Three-Thou-- Oh no,” he bites his lips, suddenly worried, “I’ve said too much, have I not?”  
If the soldier had been listening, his expression doesn’t quite show it.  
“Uh, Commader? Are you ok?”  
Kana’s sudden question seems to snap him out of a trance.  
“Uh? Wha-ah, yes of course, Doc, clear as day. It’s not like I know what you science types do in the vault anyway, I’m just here to make sure no one gets hurt, haha.” He rummages through his pockets and produces a battered keycard: no doubt the one that grants access to the main gate. “You can go in. But I’ll have to ask you and comply to the protocol, namely: I’ll need one of the boys to escort you inside. You know, rules and all that.”  
Behind me, I can hear Aloth torment his knuckles in a bout of anxiety.  
Kana, on the other hand, is perfectly at ease with the idea.  
“Of course, Commander!”, he chimes, “Rules are rules, and rules are important.”  
The guard nods once, then presses a finger on the commlink behind his ear. “Delta 3, report at main gate in 2’. Party of 4 need escorting inside the Ark.”  
A handful of seconds later, a wiry elf appears from behind one of the concrete slabs that surround the hangar and greets us with his stiffest salute.  
“Alright. You can go in.”  
As soon as the commander sticks his keycard into the panel, the main gate lets out a rusty scream and retreats on its hinges.  
Five minutes later, the industrial lift under our feet comes to a halt after having dropped us some five meters below the earth.  
“Follow me”, the guard says, marching towards what seems to be a yard-long corridor, lit by a row of pure white neon tubes.  
We obey, and find ourselves flanked by column after column of ceiling-tall archive cabinets.  
A data vault. The Ark is a data vault.  
I try and decode the plates hung on the cabinets closest to my eye-level. “PATIENTS, 3067-3072, A-D backup”; “PATIENTS, 3089-3094, K-P, backup”; “PATIENTS, 4003-4008, C-G, backup”.  
A medical data vault.  
We walk in silence until we reach its very end, where our path is blocked by a chrome plated double door. Strangely enough, there’s no cameras around its frame.  
I observe as the elven soldier approaches it and flips its keycard in front of the designated reader.  
I have to act. Now.  
I slip behind him, press my fingers on the small of his neck and let my neuromod kick in. A couple of seconds later, his body’s limp and his mind just a toolbar open in my neural interface.  
“Alpha to Delta 3, update us on the situation”. The soft crackle of the guard’s commlink gets mirrored in my ears, breaking the silence for the briefest of instants.  
I take a deep breath and let the guard’s senses become mine. “All normal, party’s been granted access to the terminal room. Delta 3 out.”  
I wait to hear the reassuring ‘close comm’ beep before proceeding. When it comes, I walk the soldier well into the room and send him slouching against the farthest wall, head hanging low on his chest, mind blinking on standby.  
My hands catch the squad’s eyes with an all-clear sign. We’re on.  
In an instant, Kana’s whipped out his deck and has connected half a dozen datajacks to the terminal’s mainframe.  
“Hmm. Hm-hm…” he mutters, punching string after string of code into his holoboard.  
He works for the best part of two minutes before hitting the inevitable digiwall.  
“Ah, fuck.” He turns around, his customary jovial look replaced by one of sheer focus and determination. “Tags brought me far enough, but there’s no fooling the main datacore. It’s walled and heavily encrypted. I have no choice”, he says, clutching his deck’s neural cord and dabbing at the socket at the base of his skull “I have to go in”. Edér and I exchange a brief nod.  
“No worries, pal. We got your back”.  
The old folk goes and drags the door close, while I help Kana assume his safety sitting position. “Three… two… one…” he counts, cord plugged in, hand hovering over the deck’s neuroswitch, “...now”. His finger smashes the button, projecting his consciousness into the virtual maze of the Ark. I watch as his shoulder fall limp in the absence of mind and give the boys a thumbs up.  
“Alright, he’s in. Gentlemen, you know what to do. Edér, you’re on guard duty. If the door does as much as budge, you shoot. No exceptions. And you, Aloth...” I turn towards him, and take a good look at his face for the first time since we’ve gotten in. Boy’s sickly pale, looks like he’s going to puke any second.  
“Man, you ok? You dying or something?”  
He shakes his head.  
“No, I’m...” He stops abruptly and squeezes his eyes shut, sweat rolling down his forehead.  
If it’s a panic attack he’s having, I need to snap him out of it. Fast.  
“No matter boy, come over and give me a hand. We need to put Kana in a more comfy posit-” I lose my grip on the decker’s shoulder and find myself sprawled on the floor, jaw aching badly.  
“Hey. Hey! The fuck you think you’re doin’?!”  
“No time fer bloody fuckery, we cannae stay here, ye hear? Place is fuckin’ cursed I tell ye: we need tae pesh off, NOW!”  
Before any of us can do anything, Aloth’s got hold of Kana’s neural cord and has yanked it out of the terminal’s port. In the next few seconds, too many things happen.  
I hear Kana’s panicked gasps as his consciousness is forcefully fed back to his body, and see Edér’s arm entangle with Aloth’s as he shoves the elf to the ground, teeth bared in rage.  
I scramble on my feet, only for the alarm’s sudden howls to send me back on my knees, heart pounding in overdrive.  
Edér’s the first to react. “Squad, in position!”, he yells, gaze fixed on the door, gun cocked and assault shield on the ready.  
Aloth’s still on his knees, shaking all over, looking at his hands as if they weren’t his. “Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck,” he repeats. “Yes: you’ve done fucked up, son!” I snarl, grabbing him by the collar and wrenching him up. I want to punch his face till his lights go out, but we need him still. “Now have some dignity and go do your fucking job!”  
He jolts forward, jaw clenched in terror, and flips his grim-pad open. I see his veins glow black as he activates the combat program and holds out a shaky arm.. In a blink, a swarm of nanobots has erupted from his palm, weaving an intricate net of titanium grade tripwire in front of the portal.  
I summon my slave guard back, placing him in the front line in my stead while I rush back to check on Kana. Dude’s still in a post-shock sensory overload, but he’s up and operative all the same.  
“Shit. Double shit. Triple shit”, he whispers, fingers flying on the holoboard, “I was close, dammit, so fucking close...”  
“Bud, are y--”  
“Shht! Quiet, friend: I need to focus.”  
Alright then. I leave him be and draw my gun, joining the guys on the front.  
A flock of footsteps tramples down the corridor, and it’s approaching fast.  
“Hang tough, lads!” I yell.  
When the chrome gate bursts open, we’re ready.  
My bullet claims the first kill. Two more guards barge cockily in only to drop on the ground, yelling in pain as the nanowire cuts through their armor and severes their ankles.  
Edér’s rifle cracks twice, swiftly silencing their cries.  
The others- judging by the ruckus, there’s at least 8 more people out there- are more savvy, and try to pick us out from a distance.  
A burst of rapid fire buzzes past my ear, ricocheting on the wall. I duck and respond with a well placed smoke bomb, gaining us some precious time.  
I need to think quick.  
“Edér, I need grenades!”  
“Belt, left side!”  
I roll behind him and grab two frags from his holder.  
My conscience will bite me in the ass for what I’m about to do, but I have no choice.  
“Got ‘em. Now cover me: I’m going out”. I lie on the ground and regain control of the guard. I unload his gun into the opening past the cryomist, drop it on the ground and rush behind Edér, where my unmoving self is. I have him snatch the frags from my hands and fill his lungs with a huge, calming breath.  
But it’s no use: the animal part of his brain has already sniffed death and is trying to wriggle its way out of my grasp.  
I don’t have much time.  
“Aloth, as soon as I’m out I want fire on me. Understood?”  
“Yes, Boss.”  
I clench my stolen hands and start running. One step- the first safety pin goes flying in the air. Second step- the other one follows it. Third step- the hum of a tracing nanomine hits my left ear, making the hair on my neck stand on end. Fourth step- the elf’s panic levels are rising fast, and threaten to pull me down. Ninth step- I’m crossing the smoke, fear seizing my every muscle.  
Tenth step- I feel my control dissipate, a horrified howl bursting out of the elf’s throat. Eleventh step- I see the elf wind his arms back in an attempt to get rid of the explosives in his hands. Twelfth step- I feel the nanomine collide with his back, and the world vanishes in a flurry of pain.  
I jolt back on my feet- my own, this time-, and go puke in a corner. The echo of three different explosions is ringing in my ears, and the smell of charred flesh is seeping up my nostrils, making me want to keep barfing till there’s nothing left in me.  
“Boss, you ok?” Edér asks, rifle still pointed at the smoke cloud, dataeye whirring in its socket.  
I gurgle a “Yes” and stumble back to my position.  
“How many of ‘em did you get?”  
I shrug. “Somewhere between one and all I guess.”  
“Hm. Fuck.”  
“Something the matter?”  
“No, no, it’s just...” Edér chuckles before resuming, “I think you got ‘em all for real, Boss. Infrareds are pickin’ up nothin’.” He relaxes his shoulders and slips a new cigar between his lips. “A mighty good job if I’ve ever seen one.”  
“I concur!” Kana’s voice booms cheerfully from his spot behind the Ark’s chassis. “Cameras around the hangar are showing nihill. Place is as clear as a glass of water, my friends.”  
“Happy to hear that.” I wipe my mouth with the back of my hand and stagger towards the exit. “Now let’s get the fuck out of this place before some more shit comes crashing down on us.”

 

Aloth’s back hits the outer wall of the CDBL with a thud.  
I shoved him there myself as Kana and Edér moved to flank him, blocking any possible escape route.  
Dude has a lot of explaining to do, and he’s going nowhere till he’s done so.  
“What in Hel were you thinking?!” I bark, arms flailing in anger.  
Now that the adrenaline of battle has simmered down, it's quickly being replaced by a bitter kind of fury, all aimed at our wiz and his utter bullshit.  
“Thanks to your stupid stunt”, I begin, “the run nearly went to total shit. It’s a bloody miracle none of us got skinned on the spot, and if it weren’t for fucking Kana-- who you NEARLY FUCKING KILLED-- ” I take a huge breath and try to get a grip on my raising voice. “If it weren’t for him, we would have walked out with a good heap of nothing, you understand? Nothing.” I’m shaking wildly at this point, but there’s nothing I can do to avoid it. “You put our lives in danger, compromised the mission, and all for what? For what?? Pray, tell us.”  
He stares at a point between my feet in silence, a ragged sigh scraping his throat.  
When he raises his head, there’s water in his eyes.  
He opens his mouth to speak but closes it abruptly, slipping one hand into his jacket’s hidden pocket.  
“Woha, son, easy there”. Edér’s gotten hold of his wrist, head shaking in warning. “Keep your hands where I can see--”  
“Alright, I’ll explain: I’ll explain goddamnit! But let me smoke first… for the love of God, let me smoke.”  
Understandable..  
“Go on then”, I say.  
Without a word, the elf retrieves his hand and sticks a bent cigarette between his teeth.  
I fish out my matchbox and light it up myself, trying to speed the whole process up a notch.  
He takes a few, ravenous lungfuls of smoke and licks his lips, lost in thought. When he speaks, his voice is little more than a whisper.  
“What you saw earlier...”, he begins, grey vapour trailing out of his nostrils like a writhing serpent, “is a ghost. A mind-frag.” He stops to pull a lock of hair away from his temple, revealing the frayed edges of a scar. “Botched neuro implant.”  
“Neuro implant?” Kana’s brow arched in surprise. “I hadn’t taken you for a neuro-aug?”  
“No, I’m not, in fact. This is no enhancer, I just... needed it.” He takes another puff and resumes. “You see, my father and I… we didn’t quite get along, especially when he’d been drinking. One day, he found me in a bad mood. I was sixteen then. A cocky, hormonal teenager, sick to the death of his vexations. A discussion soon became an argument, and the argument a fight proper. Situation got out of control, and he smashed my skull in with his mechanical hand.” He pauses, jaw clenched, and sucks in a long, shaky breath. “Massive brain damage. They rushed me to the hospital, and somehow managed to save my life. But as for the rest, there was nothing left to do. Choice was between life as a potted plant or, well... neurosurgery.” Aloth leans back on the wall, the flickery hotel sign casting its feeble glow on his face.  
He looks more tired than ever.  
“But my family wasn’t rich. There was no way they could afford one of those pretty clinics, with their robotic surgeons and pristine, vat-grown implants. So they went and prodded around the submarket till they found something less… pretentious. All I know is that they rolled me in a back-alley bunker and put me under the hand of this or that unlicensed technician who filled the hole in my brain with a chunk of another’s. In my particular case, said spare part came from Iselmyr, an elven pit-fighter from the Outer Belt. Her brain would have served as a mere vessel for my neural network to grow back and rewire itself on. Or so was the plan, at any rate.  
The implant itself was beyond successful-- as you can well see. The neural attunement process, on the other hand… not so much. Little by little, her network started latching onto mine, and her essence begun surfacing. I have learned to control her, but it becomes more and more difficult with every passing year.” The cigarette butt swirls midair for an instant before hitting the ground in a shower of sparks. “She… isn’t easy to live with. Never been the sharpest tool in the box, that woman. Brash, rash, vulgar, violent. Easy to set off...” He lights up another cigarette and looks me dead in the eye. “...as you could see for yourself earlier tonight. And about that...” A puff of blueish smoke engulfs his face briefly as the elf's shoulders sag into a sigh. “I’m sorry. I’m really, really sorry. I was… scared. She smelled my fear, and I couldn’t stop her. I lost control.” His fingers crumple into a pale fist. “But it won’t happen again, Boss. That much, I can promise.”  
I feel like I’ve been kicked in the stomach with an ice slab. And so do the others, judging from the look on their faces.  
I breathe in, unsure as to what to say.  
That whole confession feels heavier to take in that a full magazine of 9mm rounds.  
Luckily, Edér decides to open the dances. “No bad blood, sonny.”, he says, raising a hand to squeeze Aloth’s shoulder in a comforting gesture, “Just remember: we’re a squad. And a squad keeps no secrets. No matter what, Try an’ not forget that, next time.”  
“You heard the man. We’re in this together, pal. Might as well start being a tad more transparent with each other, for that matter. Also, next time I offer you a chill pill... y’know...” I interject, “consider taking it.”  
Kana still looks shaken, but makes an effort to dispel the lingering discomfort. He steps next to Aloth and places a pillar-sized arm around the elf’s tiny shoulders, steering him towards the safety of the motel. “Ah, don’t let it bother you more than necessary, friend”, I hear him say, “Now come, let’s get back to our room. We all could use a cup of hot soycaf to wash tonight away with”.

 

I lie on the bed, chewing on a piece of caffeine gum as I wait for Kana’s deck to finish uploading the Ark’s stolen data on the room’s PC. Anxiety is gnawing at my brain, so I bite harder on my gum and turn towards Aloth’s bunk in search of distraction. Edér’s leaning on the wall next to it, and looks like he’s having the time of his life. Man’s spent the previous half hour trying to speak with “That pit-fighter in the elf’s head” and, by the looks of it, I’d say he finally succeeded.  
“An’ then that absolute weapon just stares at me, ken?So-- so I just turn around an’ ‘Oi, ye bawbag! Fancy a doin’ t’day?!”  
What a strange lad.  
I sigh and resume my caffeine chewing session, finding nothing better to do but stare at the bottom of the foam mattress hovering inches from my nose.  
I’ve started dozing off when the upbeat beeping of the aumaua’s deck makes me jolt out of my skin.  
“Ready when you are, Boss! ”  
I zoom towards his desk and wedge myself in whatever space available between the decker’s monumental bulk and the computer monitor.  
“I couldn’t save all the data that got corrupted when… well.” His eyes dart towards Aloth’s approaching figure before resuming, tone as cheerful as ever. “But I was able to retrieve a few tasty bits, and I really think--”  
“Yes yes: I get it, Kana. Now cut the blabbering and get straight to the point for once, eh?”  
“Oh. Of course, friend.” Kana seems slightly offended by my impatience, but shrugs it off almost immediately.  
I watch as his fingers tap a complex pattern on the holoboard, bringing forth a cluttered drop-down menu.  
“This”, he explains, is a log list. It contains thousands of reports on experimental neuro implants and -mapping procedures. Up to this point, nothing particularly out of the ordinary, am I right?”  
I shrug. “Sounds like it”  
“But what if I told you...”, he clicks on a string, opening a folder packed with stills depicting an uncooperative Orlan being dragged by force towards an operating table and knocked out via massive doses of myorelaxant, “that most... ‘patients’ I found listed here were not informed let alone consentient?” I swallow, gaze glued to that last image. The Orlan’s lying face down on the table, body paralyzed and kept alive by a cluster of tubes and catheters. His head is locked in a metallic vise, the skin of his scalp set aside like a rubber flap, amd his eyes… his eyes stare back at me, open wide in a display of unspeakable horror. Ath the time the picture was taken, that bloke was conscious and agonizing.  
“Oh God. Oh God...” Aloth’s hidden his face behind his hands, color draining from his face.  
I’d like to imitate him, but I need to keep it together.  
I swallow a huge gulp of air in an attempt to soothe the pangs of nausea.  
“What the fuck were they trying to achieve?”  
Kana shakes his head. “I have no idea, friend. But by the looks of it”, he zooms on the monitor hung above the surgical table, where what looks like to be a real-time rendering of a neural structure slowly comes into focus, “I’d wager we’re dealing with some rudimentary form of neural harvesting.”  
“Ondra’s tits.” I whisper, lost in thought for an instant, as the concept of neural harvests wraps around my brain in its scorching vividness.  
“Well, so much for Arkannon Industries’ philanthropic façade, I guess. But what does this have to do with what Maerwald said and with, well...” I point a finger at my troubled head, “...me?”  
Kana says nothing, a grin blossoming on his lips. He inputs some more commands into the terminal, and yet another window pops up. This time, it appears to be a simple written report.  
“I think you should take a look at this, Boss.”  
He offers me his seat, and I begin scanning the words on the screen.

Name: Maerwald  
Surname: Hedwr  
Race: Folk  
Sex: M  
Age: 43  
Blood Type: A-  
Requested Procedure(s): Memory Override--Total//Neural Remapping-- Total//Memory Reconstruction-- Total//

Log//Start

 

  
Fonprima 07, 4015  
-Subject had responded well to the memory erasing process**. No signs of awareness//distress detected during the operation. Subject has been put in a stasis. Vitals: optimal and stable.

**Please note: a copy of the subject’s memory has been backed up and safely stored in a high-security encrypted datacore.

Fonprima, 21, 4015  
-Subject’s neuronet has been manually remapped. No signs of awareness//distress detected during the operation.  
Vitals: optimal and stable.

Tarprima, 03, 4015  
-Subject’s neuronet has been infused with a custom memory preset. Neural attunement in process.  
Sporadic bodily twitches observed during the operation.  
ETC: 3 months, 7 days, 12 hours.  
Vitals: stable.

Fonestu, 11, 4015  
-Subject’s neural upload completed.  
Subject’s stasis due for termination in 06 hours and 13 minutes.  
Vitals: stable.

Fonestu 12, 4015.  
-Subject has been awoken from stasis. He has fully embraced his new identity as the proprietor of Caed’s Nua estate. He cannot recall anything besides our implanted memories. His general behaviour is much different from before the operation, and the tone of his mood seems to have improved substantially. Subject will be kept under observation for the following 5 days. If his conditions keep stable, he’ll be dismissed on the 18th of Fonestu.

Fonestu 12, 4015  
-Subject has shown perfect bodily and mental health. We are positive the operation was a complete success.

Fonestu 12, 4015  
-Subject has woken up in the middle of the night. Upon being questioned, he revealed falling prey of very vivid nightmares. He was administered a mild sedative and went back to sleep.

Fonestu 13, 4015  
-Upon waking up in the morning, subject showed clear signs of aggression and disorientation. He didn’t seem to know who nor where he was. Subject was sedated and put under constant observation.  
Vitals: somewhat stable.

Fonestu 14, 4015  
-Subject is extraordinarily cooperative today. He explained he’s been suffering from unexplained flashbacks, but he didn’t seem to be bothered by the fact, nor to recall any of yesterday’s events.

Fonestu 15, 4015  
-Subject is showing clear signs of psychotic behaviour. Flashbacks seem to have gotten more intense, to the point of creating visual and auditory hallucinations. When offered medication, he threatened to injure the medical staff.  
The only explanation for this is that his deep brain memory has failed to properly attune to the newly rewritten neuromap, causing his consciousness to desynchronize. He’s been sedated and put back into stasis. Subject will undergo corrective surgery tomorrow, Fonestu 16.  
Vitals: stable.

Fonestu 16, 4015  
-Subject’s short-term memory has been erased anew. He will have no recollection of these last few days.  
His deep brain memory is out of our reach, and there’s nothing we can do to prevent it from desynchronizing again.  
Subject will be awoken later today and dismissed on the 18th.  
Vitals: stable.

Fonestu 17, 4015

-Subject woke up as normal. Again, he has no recollection of his previous life.  
He’s been fed and prescribed a strong dose of antipsychotic drugs. The day has passed with no remarkable events.

Fonestu 18, 4015  
-Subject has been dismissed from the clinic. His mood and behaviour seem relaxed and stable. He has not been informed of the previous days’ episodes. We hope the antipsychotics will help slow down- if not avert- the desync process.

 

Log//End

 

I stare at the screen in disbelief, heart suddenly drumming in my throat.  
Total neural override.  
I alway thought my symptoms were due to a faulty graft or, worst case scenario, to some form of partial reprogramming.  
But what if I was wrong and my whole memory has truly been erased and rewritten from scratch, as the evidence strongly implies? Then it would mean... it would mean I am not whoever I think I am.  
It would mean that Watcher, the mind-hunter merc from the techno tribes of Eir Glanfath has never existed. She is nothing but a bio program running through my wiped-out neuronet.  
It would mean that my entire world is nothing but a big, fucking lie.  
I have to hold onto the edge of the desk with both hands to stabilize myself, sweat running down my spine, the edges of my vision growing darker by the second. With my last crumbs of self-control I manage to activate the neuromod. It kicks in, bringing some balance amongst the chemicals in my brain, and the malaise starts to subside.  
It takes me a few seconds to put the world back into focus, but when I do, all is calm. Everybody’s too busy staring at the the terminal to have noticed my fainting spell.  
All for the best.  
“What else?” I ask, mustering all my courage.  
Kana smiles slyly, visibly proud of whatever he’s about to show me.  
“Brace yourself, friend, for the main course is about to get served!”  
He presses a single button, and the screen goes pitch black. Before I can do as much as blink, a shower of emerald letters starts to rain across the monitor in tidy columns, shifting and warping before stabilizing in a clear

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PROJECT WOEDICA

Current mapped units: 4’79’857

Essence stored: 21593565 mi.

 

Upload status: 67%

System status: aware.

_Report update by Lead Eng. IiE_

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Woedica Project… the words swim around my mind, burrowing their claws in its depths, tainting it with flashes of long forgotten times. A searing pain scorches the insides of my skull, making me recoil in agony. Before I can do as much as scream, I feel the muscles in my legs spasm, capsizing my chair and sending me thrashing on the floor.

 

The taste of synthetic mead rolls down my throat in pleasant droplets as I rest my eyes on the stretch of green that shines outside the panoramic window. All around me there’s only quiet. Quiet and spotless white walls and red velvet carpets that run from an end to the other of Arkannon’s office. And if I close my eyes, I can even hear the songbirds sing from their spots on the trees outside.  
The delicate clinking of another glass on mine lulls me back to reality. “Welcome on board, Engineer.” I raise my head and my gaze meets Arkannon’s polite smile.  
“The pleasure is mine, Chief.” I take another sip, eyes glued to the man’s back as he circles his desk, grazing its surface with an elegant flick of his fingers.  
“So, my dear”, he starts, slowly turning towards me, the silver curls of his beard glistening briefly in the sun, “do you believe in God?”

 

When I open my eyes, I’m nearly delirious.  
“Arkannon”, I gasp, the looping echo of his words still battering my ears, “we have to find him. We have to find...” I blurt out one last word before the darkness lingering in my peripheries comes to claim my senses once again, “... Thaos.”


End file.
